Videos/Unboxings

Retro Tech Addicts Pickups 04-09-13

Gareth’s pick ups from the last week include one semi-rare beat ’em up on a forgotten console and one of the Holy Grail collectors items for a handheld. Warning: If you are a collector you might be a little jealous.

Posted by: Gareth

Sonivo Easy Speaker and Bluetooth Headset unboxing video

We’ve looked at a number of wireless speakers and Bluetooth Headsets in the past but here we have a couple of products that are a little bit different.

Starting with the Sonivo Easy Speaker, there’s no cables, no WiFi, no Bluetooth and no NFC connection. Yet this is no passive speaker set, has a rechargeable battery and built in amplifier.

So how does it work then? I’m tempted to say magic but in reality you place any mobile or MP3 player with built-in loudspeaker, on top of the Easy Speaker and the sound is amplified. Inside the unit a set of transducers pick up the induction signals from the loudspeaker. In practice this works well, there is a BUT though. If you have an HTC One, the placement of the speakers mean that only the left OR right channel will be amplified. You can use the supplied 3.5mm cable to get around this though.

The SBH-150 Bluetooth Stereo Headset from Sonivo is a good looking bit of kit. It uses Bluetooth 3.0 and can be used as both stereo bluetooth headphone or as a wireless headset for use with your mobile. Add to that the passive noise cancelling, media controls and folding design and you’ve got something a bit different.

Check out the unboxing and demo video below to see them both in more detail.

Posted by: Matt

Innergie PocketCell unboxing video

There are numerous charging and external battery solutions available for mobile devices, from cases and backpacks with built in batteries to large external battery packs that you connect with a cable, each has it’s own merits.

I spend a lot of time away form the home and office where I don’t have access to mains power to charge a phone so I’ve had a large rechargeable external battery pack for quite some time. The only ‘problem’ with the one I have is that it’s not something you can put in your jacket pocket, it’s too big for that.

So, enter the Innergie PocketCell. The PocketCell is an extremely neat solution to the issue of running out of power. In simple terms it’s just a 3000MAh rechargeable battery that you can then use to recharge or boost the power of your mobile device, whether that be an iPhone, BlackBerry or other phone or an iPad or other tablet.

The PocketCell can supply 2.1A of charging power which is important for charging tablets as they draw far more power. With this battery pack you can extend the usage time of your iPhone by around 25 hours, iPad 4.5+ Hrs (Using time) and HTC/BlackBerry 15+ Hrs (Talk time). This is achieved in a neat little package weighing just 72g and measuring 90.9 x 29.8 x 21.1mm.

The other thing I like about the Innergie product is that it comes with a ‘Magic Cable Trio’. This is a cable around 8 inches long with a USB plug on one end and MiniUSB, MicroUSB and 30pin apple connector on the other. This combined cable can also be used to recharge the battery pack from a PC or Mac so you only need to carry one cable and the PocketCell itself.

The Innergie PocketCell is ideal for anyone not wishing to lug heavy external batteries or spoil the look of their phone with large jackets or covers. It’s small and light enough to go in your pocket or, ladies, in your handbag.

Check out the unboxing below for more.

Big Things Ahead with HTC

HTC are fond of teasing us but this time they seem to be taking it to the n’th degree by releasing a video just 16 seconds long promising of ‘Big Things Ahead’.

The video, released along with the hashtag #HTChange, seems to feature one Robert Downey Jr., whom we know HTC have signed a deal with, and the briefest glimpse of an HTC phone which we believe is likely to be the HTC One Max, fitting in nicely with the ‘Big Thing’ promised.

There’s sure to be more of this video released over the coming days so keep your eyes peeled!

Posted by: Matt

HTC One and HTC One Mini compared (video)

I’ve had the HTC One for quite some time and it has definitely become my favourite phone, relegating all others to the ‘also used’ status.

When rumours of the smaller HTC One Mini surfaced a few months ago I was pretty sceptical. Certainly many other phone manufacturers have come up with mini versions of their most popular handsets but it’s very unusual for HTC to do the same and left us wondering HTC were just following everyone else and rushing out another handset hot in the heals of the HTC One simply to keep up with the Jones’s.

However, having had my hand on the One Mini for the past week I’ve come to appreciate it a whole lot more. I’m liking the design and despite some obvious specification differences it really is just a smaller HTC One. Maybe that sounds obvious but mini versions of things can be very different, experience tells us.

So I thought it would be useful to record a quick video to highlight the similarities and differences between these two phones and you can see for yourself the comparison below.